Politics
Texas Gov Greg Abbott slams Biden’s ‘border policies’ enriching drug cartels and claims crisis will only escalate
TEXAS Gov Greg Abbott said President Biden’s border policies are “enriching drug cartels” and claimed the crisis will only escalate.
Abbott claimed that Biden‘s “open border policies” are encouraging more migrants to try to enter the US illegally, and are padding the pockets of drug cartels who smuggle migrants.
Gov Greg Abbott said Biden’s border policies are empowering drug cartels[/caption]
Biden’s administration ended the Remain in Mexico policy[/caption]
The Texas governor claimed on Sunday that he recently met with Border Patrol officers, who warned him about the surge in illegal immigration attempts.
“The Border Patrol officers told me that the Biden administration and policies, they are enriching, they are empowering the drug cartels in Mexico who make money off of the people that they assist in smuggling into the state of Texas,” Abbott told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
“The cartels make money off of these migrants that you and your viewers see on TV,” he said.
Abbott said Border Patrol officers predicted that the number of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border will only increase in coming months.
Border Patrol agents said there has been a massive increase in migrants trying to cross the US-Mexico border[/caption]
Border officers have already apprehended about 110,000 people trying to come into the country at the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas this year, the governor said, which far surpasses the total of 90,000 from last year.
The number of kids attempting to cross the border by themselves has reportedly also risen 60 percent in the first few months of 2021.
One of Biden’s top aides, Roberta Jacobsen, admitted on Wednesday that the president’s tolerant approach may be encouraging migrants to attempt to cross the US-Mexico border.
New data shows that the number of migrants detained in February rose to levels not seen since 2019, when a dramatic surge in migrants overwhelmed border facilities.
There’s also reportedly been an increase in kids trying to cross the border alone[/caption]
“We’ve seen surges before,” Jacobsen said during a White House briefing. “Surges tend to respond to hope, and there was significant hope for a more humane policy after four years of pent-up demand.”
“So I don’t know if I would call that a coincidence,” she added.
Under Biden, the Remain in Mexico policy, which kept migrants south of the border while waiting for legal hearings, as well as asylum agreements with Norther Triangle counties, have ended.
Biden has also limited the criteria for ICE to make arrests and deportations.
The ending of the Remain in Mexico policy has allowed migrants who have applied for asylum to cross the border and begin legal proceedings.
Jacobsen said the more relaxed policies may have led smugglers who profit from trafficking people into the US to mislead those hoping to migrate to the US.
“The idea that move humane policy would be in place may have driven people to make that decision, but perhaps more importantly, it definitely drove smuggles to express disinformation, spread disinformation about what was now possible,” she said.
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Jacobson said the Biden administration is working on improving immigration policies as well as its messaging around them.
“We are trying to walk and chew gum at the same time. We are trying to convey to everyone in the region that we will have legal processes in the future,” she said.
“But at the same time, you cannot come through irregular means.”
